 |
|
Michael Hussey's Postcards |
|
|
|
|
|
THURSDAY 18 JANUARY 2001
Mike Hussey on the Warriors' start to the New Year
Following a good break over Christmas, the Warriors were back in action very early in the New Year with MMC and Pura Cup games against Victoria at the WACA. A crowd of nearly ten thousand attended the MMC game on Tuesday 2 January. They were very vocal and pushed our team all the way to a nail-biting seven run victory.
Warriors captain, Tom Moody, won the toss on an excellent batting pitch and fast outfield and in sunny conditions. Damien Fleming and Shane Warne were both making their comebacks from injury in this match for Victoria, as was Duncan Spencer for Western Australia. Duncan had not played for WA for almost seven years. He was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world at his peak but, in the 1993-94 season, suffered stress fractures in his back. Duncan has been working very hard to get back to full fitness and only this year has he not had any back pain during bowling.
There was plenty of interest in the match, which began disastrously for the Warriors. We were 3/5 from four overs. Michael Lewis, displaying genuine pace, had Murray Goodwin and Damien Martyn both out for ducks and then Damien Fleming had Ryan Campbell out for 4. We were in desperate need of a partnership to arrest the situation. The Warriors managed to nudge the score up to 230 with Simon Katich 51, Moody 31 and myself 79 the main contributors. Tom and Simon really looked to go after the bowling and, in particular, Warne. Simon took to him in his first couple of overs until Warne got his wicket and then Tom hit him for consecutive boundaries. In Warne's second spell, Tom tried to hit a shot into the Member's Stand and was stumped and then he beat Brendon Julian with flight and had him stumped as well. Warne's ten overs cost him 46 runs and he took three wickets. Fleming bowled extremely well in his comeback game, finishing with 3/30 off his ten overs.
Personally, I thought that this total was about twenty runs short of what we needed to win the match, as the pitch was good for batting and the Vics had some in-form batsmen in their line-up. We started very well, with big Jo Angel taking the vital wicket of Matthew Elliott early. Jo, although he isn't bowling as fast as in his prime, has been our most consistent and best bowler in the one-day form of the game. He bowls a very tight line and length, building up pressure on the batsmen. Duncan, in his comeback game, bowled first change and had Peter Harper caught in the gully in his first over. It was a great start for the comeback kid, sporting an Andre Agassi look-a-like hair cut. Brad Hodge was once again the mainstay of the Victorian innings. He made 62 until he was brilliantly caught and bowled by Brad Hogg. Hoggy is making a habit of breaking important partnerships with sensational catches off his own bowling.
Coming into the last ten overs, we were able to put sufficient pressure on the Vics such that they still needed to score at between five and six runs per over. Duncan came back for his second spell and bowled with great pace and control to squeeze the Victorians and help the Warriors get over the line by just seven runs. He finished with four wickets in a match winning performance.
The players had a day off before the Pura Cup game began on Thursday. Shane Warne was declared fit to play, although Damien Fleming was not risked for this match. The Pura Cup table is starting to get very tight at the top and so this match - with two very good teams going head to head - shaped as one of the most important games of the season.
Paul Reiffel won the toss and elected to bat first on a pretty green WACA strip. The Warriors bowled without discipline in the first session, as we couldn't execute the plans that were put in place before the match. We fought back well for the rest of the day, though, and dismissed the Bushrangers for 254 after they were well placed at 2/134. Brendon Julian was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets. The Warriors had a nasty seventeen overs to face at the end of the day. Murray Goodwin looked in great touch and we had a partnership of more than seventy before Shane Warne had me LBW in the second last over of the day. Although we lost that late wicket, we were happy with the day's play.
Some inspired bowling from Warne on day two helped the Bushrangers take first innings points. He took four wickets and destroyed the middle order of the Warriors. Marcus North was the shining light for the West as he was last man out for 51. Goodwin also made a fine half-century. The Bushrangers had a handy thirty-one run lead on the first innings and went about building on that in the second innings. At stumps on day two, the Vics were 3/145.
On day three, the Warriors fought back very well in the morning session, dismissing the Vics and leaving ourselves the prospect of scoring 259 for victory and securing six vital points. In the run chase, we lost Murray Goodwin early but then Kato and myself had a good partnership which took us up to 1/77. We were handling danger man Warne without too many problems and the signs looked good for WA. The game then turned on its ear. We lost quick wickets and ended up being bowled out for 180 and handing the six points to our opponents. Warne was the pick of the Victorian bowlers with five wickets and nine for the match.
It was a disappointing finish for WA as we are really looking forward to the New Year and pushing our way up the Pura Cup table. We have a month before our next four-day match, so we have some time to re-group and play some good one-day cricket.
I'll keep you posted as our summer continues.
Happy New Year to all,
Mike Hussey
|
